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Zuzanna Siwy

Publications and source records attributed to Zuzanna Siwy.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

Giant and Continuous Ionic Current Oscillation Induced by Dynamic Surface Charge Regulation in Cylindrical Mesopores

Nanofluidic ionic oscillators based on the dynamic regulation of surface charges hold great promise for neuromorphic computing, biosensing, and ionic circuits. Here, by dynamically adjusting the local charge inversion on pore walls, we present a simple and effective strategy to achieve periodic current oscillations by harnessing the transient adsorption and desorption of Ca2+ ions in cylindrical mesopores under concentration gradients. Based on the combined precision current measurements and multiphysics simulations, we demonstrate that local overadsorption of Ca2+ ions may induce asymmetric bipolar charge distributions along the pore axis, which periodically reverses the direction of electroosmotic flow and modulates the local ion concentration inside the pore, generating highly regular current oscillations. Notably, both the oscillation frequency and the open-state probability of the pore vary nearly linearly with the applied voltage. Moreover, under dynamic voltage scanning, the system exhibits typical memristive hysteresis, and the switching between the open and closed states is highly reproducible. This work not only reveals the dynamic, heterogeneous surface charge regulation by divalent ions, but also provides a simple, material agnostic method for constructing ionic oscillators and memristors based on dynamic adsorption/desorption of multivalent ions.

physics.chem-ph↗

Rectification properties of conically shaped nanopores: consequences of miniaturization

Nanopores attracted a great deal of scientific interest as templates for biological sensors as well as model systems to understand transport phenomena at the nanoscale. The experimental and theoretical analysis of nanopores has been so far focused on understanding the effect of the pore opening diameter on ionic transport. In this article we present systematic studies on the dependence of ion transport properties on the pore length. Particular attention was given to the effect of ion current rectification exhibited for conically shaped nanopores with homogeneous surface charges. We found that reducing the length of conically shaped nanopores significantly lowered their ability to rectify ion current. However, rectification properties of short pores can be enhanced by tailoring the surface charge and the shape of the narrow opening. Furthermore we analyze the relationship of the rectification behavior and ion selectivity for different pore lengths. All simulations were performed using MsSimPore, a software package for solving the Poisson-Nernst-Planck (PNP) equations. It is based on a novel finite element solver and allows for simulations up to surface charge densities of -2 e/nm^2. MsSimPore is based on 1D reduction of the PNP model, but allows for a direct treatment of the pore with bulk electrolyte reservoirs, a feature which was previously used in higher dimensional models only. MsSimPore includes these reservoirs in the calculations; a property especially important for short pores, where the ionic concentrations and the electric potential vary strongly inside the pore as well as in the regions next to pore entrance.

cond-mat.soft↗

Correlation studies of open and closed states fluctuations in an ion channel: Analysis of ion current through a large conductance locust potassium channel

Ion current fluctuations occurring within open and closed states of large conductance locust potassium channel (BK channel) were investigated for the existence of correlation. Both time series, extracted from the ion current signal, were studied by the autocorrelation function (AFA) and the detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) methods. The persistent character of the short- and middle-range correlations of time series is shown by the slow decay of the autocorrelation function. The DFA exponent $α$ is significantly larger than 0.5. The existence of strongly-persistent long-range correlations was detected only for closed-states fluctuations, with $α=0.98\pm0.02$. The long-range correlation of the BK channel action is therefore determined by the character of closed states. The main outcome of this study is that the memory effect is present not only between successive conducting states of the channel but also independently within the open and closed states themselves. As the ion current fluctuations give information about the dynamics of the channel protein, our results point to the correlated character of the protein movement regardless whether the channel is in its open or closed state.

cond-mat↗